Impacting Pain
by ShadowSpirits
Summary: (Title change and reposted due to stupidity) Bakura is having painful dreams that are effecting him in reality and Y. Bakura is being blamed. With Yugi and Yami's assistance, can they save Bakura before it's too late?
1. Pain Inflicted

You know what, there are always all these Bakura getting killed by Yami Bakura fanfics. What if Yami Yugi was like that and....HEY Put down those tomatoes! It's just a what if, what are you gonna do with that?! Hey Back Off, ok, ok, I'll be good!  
  
But I mean, poor Bakura, everyone always picks on HIM, it's always Bakura getting beaten up, the poor thing! I bet you're waiting for me to say I hate it....YEAH RIGHT, jeez what do you think this fic is gonna be like? What do you take me for? PG-13 for violence and language. And honestly, I have no idea where this story is heading, I just type as I go.  
  
Disclaimer: I do not own Yu-Gi-Oh but I do own the rights to the name Akei ^^   
  
/Yugi to Yami/  
//Yami to Yugi//  
[Bakura to Yami Bakura]  
{Yami Bakura to Bakura}  
  
******  
"Pathetic."  
  
"P-please don't..."   
  
"Begging again?"  
  
"Y-yes..."  
  
The last thing Bakura saw was his face double over in pain and blood spilling on his bedroom's carpet. He sunk back as far as he can into a corner of his room, trying to fight back tears of agony and just waiting for another strike of his yami. His eyes closed shut as he felt being jerked off the ground-  
  
"Bakura? Hey Bakura, you ok?"  
  
Bakura blinked a few times and saw Yugi staring worriedly at him. The silver-haired boy glanced around at his surroundings. The classroom. How did he get here? What happened to his bedroom? "....Yeah...I think...what time is it...?"  
  
"Class is over Bakura. You slept the last five minutes, I saw the teacher stare at you but I guess she decided to ignore the fact that you look like crap."  
  
"Do I really look that bad...?"  
  
"Um...well...yeah....Anyway, you wanna come hang my Grandpa's shop? Joey is already heading over there, he said he would meet me."  
  
'Civilization...' "Yeah, sure Yugi, let's go."  
  
"Great!"  
  
******  
The two boys headed into the Turtle Game Shop, Joey sitting on a stool staring at the ceiling. "Hey Yug, hey Bakura."  
  
"Hey Joey," they said in unison.   
  
"Heh, Gramps got some more cards in...look at this, I got those Magical Hats you have Yugi."  
  
"Cool Joey.."  
  
Bakura just remained silent, brain lashing himself to try and figure if he dreamed everything in the classroom, or maybe he was in his soul room and Yami Bakura tried killing him again.   
  
****** -Bakura PoV-  
What's happening to me? God my head feels like crap...I need sleep....just a little nap...Yugi won't care.... "Hey Yugi?"  
  
"Yeah Bakura?" He looked curiously at me.  
  
"Can I just take a small nap on your couch....?"  
  
"Uh...sure, I guess. You sure you're feeling ok?"  
  
"Yeah, yeah I'm just tired." I dismiss him and walk into his living room, collapsing on the couch into a deep sleep.  
  
******  
Yami Bakura yanked Bakura off the ground cruelly and glares with bloodshot eyes at him. The boy whimpers as his body is thrown into the wall violently, yet his yami still had hold to his shirt's collar. "Why did you have to get the ring?! You're so pathetic and useless!" Another pulling back on Bakura and them ramming him into the wall again.   
  
"Yami....please....just leave me alone....."  
  
"Shut up!!"   
  
A fist locked in sight of Bakura's mouth, when it pulled back after impact...blood was leaking down from it and off of the boy's chin. "Y-Yami......s-stop...."  
  
"When do you freaking learn?!"   
  
Bakura cried out again as he was thrown to the ground and a foot contacted into his ribs. As he curled into as tight a ball he could, blood was being coughed up and thrown to a pool of the red liquid besides his strands of hair. When more began to be choked up, Bakura found that his hair was being tinted in a dark red from his small pool growing and flowing across the floor.  
  
[Yami...s-stop....]  
  
******  
{What's your problem now?!}  
  
[....S-top..........] Bakura responded weakly, not realizing he wasn't 'dreaming anymore'.  
  
{What the hell you runt, stop what?!}  
  
Bakura groaned and sat up on the couch, pulling his legs to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. Yugi and Joey were nowhere to be seen, well actually...a note on a table besides the boy caught his eye.  
  
"-Went to the arcade, we let you sleep longer instead of waking you, you still look like crap. Grandpa is in the shop if you need him. -Yugi."  
  
'Great...'  
  
{Will you freaking answer me already?!}  
  
[W-what...?]  
  
Getting ticked, Yami Bakura emerged from the ring, grabbing Bakura off the couch and off his feet.  
  
[No....not again....] Bakura was too weak to keep to a private link...so all his thoughts went through the mental link. Yami Bakura continued roughly gripping his hikari's shirt but just stared at him, almost shaken.  
  
'What the hell is he talking about? I haven't hit him in almost two weeks...'  
  
He shook his head and pulled back a fist, ready to strike yet still stalling.   
  
[No.....it's all happening again....soon I'll be on the floor ontop a pool of blood...my hair red.....not again....] Bakura shut his eyes, pain surging through his body, and it was the same pain he had in his "dream". Yami Bakura blinked when a small cut formed from Bakura's cut and down to his chin.   
  
"Hey kid....what the hell...?"  
  
"See ya Joey!" Yugi came running into the living room and stopping dead in his tracks with an added glare.   
  
'Oh shit...' Yami Bakura thought as he looked between Yugi and Bakura (who seemingly look unconscious).  
  
/Yami...get out here....now..../  
  
//Why, what's wrong Yugi..?//  
  
/Your best friend is here./  
  
Yami didn't need anymore to question, he materialized besides Yugi in an instant, glaring at Yami Bakura and walking over to him, looking at Bakura for a moment. The other yami just blinked, but never dropping his hikari. "What the hell are you doing here?! And what did you do to Bakura?!"  
  
He blinked again and threw Bakura down on the couch (who snapped awake from the impact). Yami Bakura turned to Yami. "Hey, for once I didn't do anything," he hissed.  
  
Yami looked at Bakura and pointed, turning his head to the other yami. "Then where did that cut come from?!"  
  
Bakura and Yugi just watched them, Bakura half wanting to stand up to...someone.  
  
"I'd like to know the same thing..." Yami Bakura stared over at Bakura who froze.   
  
"Liar."  
  
"Use your magic Pharaoh and find out, I'm not lying on this matter," he snapped back sternly.  
  
Yami sighed and looked to Yugi who nodded and backed up slightly as Yami closed his eyes, the third eye glowing on his forehead. He grunted when it vanished and opened his eyes to see Yami Bakura tapping his foot, arms crossed over his chest.   
  
/Well...?/  
  
//He's telling the truth....He didn't give Bakura that cut...//  
  
/But how-/  
  
//I don't know....//  
  
"Well?"  
  
"I hate to admit it, you were right."  
  
Yami Bakura sneered satisfied as Bakura stood up. "Yugi...I'm going home...I need a shower...."  
  
Yugi looked over to his friend, who was already walking out...with or without his yami. "Alright...just-"  
  
"-just be careful," Yami finished for his aibou.  
  
/That's the second time you've cut me off within five minutes.../  
  
//Sorry.//  
  
Yugi sighed as he realized BOTH Bakuras were gone from the house.  
  
******  
Bakura trudged in a slow pace along the sidewalk towards his home, not trying to hurry. He had thought he had gotten away from his yami for a little while at least, not realizing his other was glaring at his back behind him. He sure noticed when Yami Bakura made only a slight hissing sound....Bakura spun around and fell over, shaking with fear as his yami blinked at him. His eyes narrowed, so he might get hit later for his next actions...but right now Bakura could care less. He stood off the ground and glared at his yami. "Leave. Me. The. Hell. Alone!"  
  
Another blink of surprise.  
  
Bakura grunted and wiped the crusted blood from his face.  
  
"Where did you get that cut anyway...?"  
  
"None. Of. Your. Business." Each word he said, Bakura spat out at his yami, who wasn't entirely acting normal himself. When he didn't receive another question, Bakura turned swiftly and ran towards his house in which he was almost there anyway.  
  
He entered the dreary home and tried making it up the stairs to the bathroom, but forcefully, Yami Bakura grabbed his arm and whirled the boy around who began crying instantly. "I'm sorry I spat! Please, not anymore, not anymore! DON'T HIT ME AGAIN!" Bakura broke from his yami's tight clench and shriveled low to the ground, arms over his head waiting for more impact though he begged...but that normally results to more pain for talking back. When a few minutes had passed, Bakura slowly opened one eye, and not fully, but enough to see his yami just standing there confused.  
  
"What are you talking about....? I haven't HIT you for over two weeks!"  
  
Bakura cringed and trembled, closing his eye again, his mind half fading out of existence as it slipped from reality.  
  
******  
Bakura was pulled from his collection of blood. He would have fallen back to the ground if his yami weren't holding him up by the neck. An Egyptian curse left Yami Bakura's mouth and at the same time a knee hit upright into Bakura's stomach, sending him collapsing back into his blood and adding more to it. By now you could fill a twenty-four ounce jar with all of the liquid he had lost so far.  
  
"Done talking finally...?" He hissed down at the boy. Bakura's sweater was now newly dyed as well as his jeans, but only the half dunked in his red fluid was the dyed material.  
  
"......Y-y-yes...."   
  
"No. I think not."  
  
Bakura mentally cursed for even answering.  
  
Again he was pulled up, not by the neck this time though, but by his silver hair. The yami smirked and threw Bakura across his room into a table, knocking it and a lamp on it over onto him. Yami Bakura followed over and stared down at the boy, a sneer planted across his pale face. "Now are you done?"  
  
This time Bakura remained silent, figuring if he answered, more agony would fall over his broken body. Yeah. Right.  
  
"ANSWER ME?!" The yami stormed like a beast, a lion stalking his pray and he picked up the table and lamp from Bakura and slammed them down harder on the weakling who wriggled below. He squealed in a low pain until his voice strained so much until he fell under the spell of unconsciousness.   
  
******  
Back to reality.  
  
Bakura trembled once more before his arms and legs went limp and he fell over the stairs, unconscious.  
  
Yami Bakura blinked, he hadn't DONE anything, what the hell was wrong with the runt?! The one thing he'd never thought he would do, was about to happen. Calling Yami and Yugi. The yami sighed and raised to walk from the stairs to the nearest phone in the kitchen (leaving Bakura on the stairs). He picked it up, hearing the dial tone and looking at a piece of paper on the counter with phone numbers. With a single finger he scanned until it said 'Yugi' and he dialed.   
  
"Hello?"  
  
It was Yugi.  
  
"Anyone there...?"  
  
'Damn what do I say...?'  
  
"Umm...do you have the wrong number...?"  
  
'Arg...'  
  
"Oh well..." The phone at the other end clicked.  
  
"Damn," he cursed and dialed again.   
  
******  
The phone rang again just as Yugi was moving away from it. He looked over and grumbled and then remembered about a caller ID thing they had just gotten. He ran over the small device and it read off Bakura's number and the name below 'Bakura'. "OH! It's Bakura!" With those three words, Yami came into the room and watched Yugi pick up the phone. "Hello? Bakura, are you ok?"  
  
"........" The other line.  
  
"Bakura, are you there? Has your yami hurt you??"  
  
"This IS his yami."  
  
"..........."  
  
"Yugi, what's wrong?" Yami came up next to his hikari.  
  
"Um...hold on a minute," Yugi said into the phone before covering a hand over it to talk to Yami. "It's not Bakura, it's his yami!"  
  
"Let me see that..."  
  
Yugi handed over the phone as Yami talked into it. "What do you want?"  
  
".....Advice...."  
  
Yami paused for a minute. "On what...?"  
  
"What to do if someone goes unconscious."  
  
"Hold please." Yami looked over at Yugi, covering the phone. "What do you do if someone goes unconscious?"  
  
"Um...make sure their pulse is ok....make sure they don't have a fever...um....put a cold cloth on their heads and keep them laying on a semi-flat surface. But why does he want to know?"  
  
"Good question..." Yami picked up the phone again. "Why do you need to know anyway?"  
  
"That's none of your business."  
  
Yami sighed and told him what Yugi said and was about to question him again when the dial tone was his only answer.  
  
******  
Yami Bakura walked away from the phone after hanging it up, heading back towards the stairs to lift Bakura off of them. Where the sudden urge to help the weakling came from, he has no idea. ((A/N: Neither do I o.O I'll figure it out...))  
  
He found a cloth thrown carelessly besides the sink and had wet it with cold water, just like Yami said before walking back to where he had lay Bakura on a couch. He placed the cloth on the boy's head and sat himself in a chair, glaring at his hikari.   
  
******  
Bakura lay still as it seemed his yami had left him, for now. He groaned and tried to move, but was only able to push the table and lamp off him. 'What did I ever do to him to deserve this...?'  
  
He reached an arm up to grab onto something to pull him up and instead got a hand that pulled him. At first he was grateful to the hand, until he saw who it was....  
  
"Y-Yami...!"  
  
"I thought I put you out of commission?!" He yelled, taking the boy's arm and pulling it around his back until he heard a crack.   
  
Bakura fell limply to the ground, once his yami had dropped him at least. His right arm was now broken, left one about to follow a new wound. The yami kneeled by his hikari, taking out a pocket knife he had found in a bathroom drawer. In one swift motion, the blade moved and a large cut opened up in Bakura's left arm...  
  
******  
  
  
I'M SORRY BAKURA!!!! So much pain in one fic....what the hell urged me to type this?! Oh well. Let's see...I'm writing five fics at one time, all for Yu-Gi-Oh! Sad...oh well, again, when an idea pops up, you just gotta type what the hands type! As a friend (**Cough** Englasu, read her fics, they rule!) tells me, "I just do what the little voices tell me to do." 


	2. Confusion

Let's see now...what to say? Um...I'll be calling Yami Bakura by Akei at some point, probably in chapter 3, I gotta fit it in somewhere where it works. But it's my official name that I use for Yami Bakura ^^ Ok, enough chit chat, read on! And review at the end pwease ::wink.::  
  
  
******  
Yami Bakura stared at Bakura as the boy shook himself awake, staring around in fear. His eyes locked to his yami and from a semi-normal face, it's features changed quickly to pure horror. He grabbed the small couch pillow he had been laying on and clutched it between his hands before him.   
  
The yami stood and was about to move towards Bakura when the boy cringed at a pain in his arm and rolled up his sleeve. He whimpered out loud when he saw a long red scar streaked across his left arm. Yami Bakura saw this and nearly freaked out and yelled. "WHERE THE HELL DID THAT COME FROM?!"   
  
Bakura yelped at the raised voice and rolled the sleeve down, ignoring the fresh pain in the arm. His eyes moved from the now covered wound to look at his enraged yami. Fear stroke through Bakura's mind but he spoke worriedly out anyway. "Y-y-you..." The thought of Yami Bakura breaking his right arm and cutting his left snuck into his mind again and he cried out and the thought, burying his head into his arms (which now rested on his knees). Not paying any attention, the image slipped from his mind to his yami's...  
  
Eyes widened in the face of the past tomb-raider. The image of blood everywhere on Bakura's bedroom carpet, the table and lamp thrown to the side, HIMSELF breaking Bakura's arm and creating that scar. The yami fell backwards into the chair he was once in, staring baffled at Bakura who paid no heed to move his head from his arms as he quivered from pain and dread.   
  
'I think...I need to make....a phone call....' For the second time in that day, Yami Bakura walked over to the phone to call Yami, yet this time he was more shaken up. More then he ever has been in his life. It took him two or three tries to push the right buttons on the phone from his quivering finger, but at long last it began it's ringing.  
  
******  
Yugi ran into the room towards the phone and yelled for Yami to come in, who quickly complied. Yugi pointed to the still ringing phone worriedly as he spoke to his yami. "It's Bakura's number again...probably his yami...can you pick it up....please..?"  
  
"Of course, aibou." Yami crossed the room and answered the ringing phone just when Yami Bakura was about to give up. "Hello..?"  
  
"Yami..."   
  
"Yami Bakura?" 'God I hate that name...' "What is it now?" The Pharaoh's voice left his mouth agitated.  
  
******  
Yami Bakura sighed on his end and looked back towards the living room where Bakura was still curled up tightly. "...........I......I need your help....and fast..."  
  
"Why would you need my help?!"  
  
"Something is terribly wrong with Bakura...I SWEAR I haven't done a thing. He's already gone unconscious once and when he woke up, there was a newly formed scar on his wrist.......I seriously don't know what to do......"  
  
"Have you tried talking to him?"  
  
"I stood up and he panicked."  
  
"Ever think 'mental link'?"  
  
"Oh....right....but....please...Urg I can't believe I am saying this!" His voice went back to its normal his for a moment then slightly...mumbled. "Can you just get over here...?"  
  
A pause. "Fine. But this better not be a trick or you're seriously are going to die. Slowly. I'm bringing Yugi as well."   
  
The phone clicked down as Yami Bakura went back to sit in the chair, Bakura never moving an inch.  
  
******  
"What was that about Yami?"  
  
"We have to go over and help Bakura and his yami..."  
  
"We...?" Yugi asked curiously as Yami headed for the door.  
  
"Yes. We. I don't trust being in a house with just Yami Bakura and Bakura, just in case this is some sort of sick trap."  
  
"Alright..." And they were out of the house in a flash.  
  
******  
'Ok....mental link...right....arg why am I so god damn spacing it?!' He was answered by another image from Bakura's mind that had slipped out, from when Bakura was being thrown to the ground various times. The yami cringed. 'This makes no sense...I haven't done anything...and yet he's suffering with wounds from things that it seems I have done. I just don't get it....Well...might as well try the link..'  
  
{Bakura?}  
  
[..........]  
  
{Listen to me. Yami and Yugi are coming over here to check you out, I don't know what the hell is wrong with you but I just can't figure it out myself. How I hate to admit...}  
  
[P-p-please....d-don't hit m-me again.....t-today...]  
  
{I haven't hit you at all!}  
  
Bakura coward more into the couch, moving his head from being buried in his arms to stare at his yami for a moment. But the pain in his arm reminded him of terror and he cried into his arms again.   
  
'This is hopeless....'  
  
He jerked upright from the chair as a loud, forceful knock reached his ears from the door. 'Yami and Yugi....' Slowly he stalked to the door, opening it and letting the two look-alikes step in. With silence in the order, he showed them to Bakura before sinking back in his chair with an I-don't-know-what-to-do face.  
  
******  
Yami sighed as he stared at Yami Bakura for a moment.  
  
/He looks so-/  
  
//Pathetic?//  
  
/Uh yeah and-/  
  
//Worried?//  
  
/Yeah but-/  
  
//Confused?//  
  
/YAMI!/  
  
//What?// Yami chuckled slightly and kneeled down by Bakura. "Hey kid, you alright?"  
  
/You aren't very good at this./  
  
//Hey be nice, I'm trying here.//  
  
"Hey Bakura, what has your yami done to you?" Yugi quirked.  
  
"I haven't done anything! Bakura I haven't!" Yami Bakura jolted from his seat, a desperate look of innocence on his feet.   
  
"D-d-don't let him hurt m-me anymore....." Bakura rasped out and Yami stood to glare at the other yami.   
  
"You're a very bad liar."  
  
"I'm NOT lying! Bakura those are just dreams, I haven't done any of that!"  
  
"Any of what?" Yugi asked, standing up besides his dark half.  
  
Again the other yami was back in his chair. He was so confused, nothing was making sense and he was getting blamed for something he hadn't done. Being blamed was harder to deal with then knowing you did something and getting blamed. He lowered his head to rest his hands on his forehead before speaking. "Bakura hasn't been paying attention and some of his dreams or whatever have been slipping through our mental link....."  
  
"Of...?" Yami urged.  
  
".......Of me......the first one slipped by had me break his right arm then cut his left arm. There was already blood everywhere...he had to of dreamed more before....but that's not what I'm... 'worried' about...." He paused and looked up, trying not to sound threatening. "Bakura, show them your arm."  
  
The boy hesitated.  
  
{Please Bakura...}  
  
Slowly Bakura rolled up his left sweater sleeve, revealing the large red scar along his arm.  
  
".....That's exactly were the dream had me cut him......"  
  
Yami blinked a moment and ran a finger along the cut, making Bakura flinch. He moved his hand from the frail boy and muttered. "People are supposed to come out of dreams unscathed..."  
  
"You think I know what's going on?! I didn't call you over here to tell me what I already know!"  
  
/He needs a name....I'm not calling him Yami Bakura, it's too long of a name./  
  
//Good point, any ideas...?//  
  
/Yeah, I thought about it when we came over./  
  
//Well...?//  
  
/Akei!/ ((A/N: ^^))  
  
//Um...ok...// "Akei it is then."  
  
"What the hell...?!"  
  
"Your new name."  
  
"Since when?!"  
  
"Since now." He pointed to his aibou. "It was his idea, not mine."  
  
"Whatever..." he grumbled. "Now what do we do about Bakura?!"  
  
"There is one thing......."  
  
******  
  
  
Hehe....cliffy....I may get another chapter up before I go on vacation Friday for two weeks, but I may not. I have to think of the answer ^^;;; eheh....anyway...that's all for now. 


	3. Mission: Enter

Blah, blah, blah...Err...might have some interesting language in this chap, only in a few parts and one paragraph all in caps signaling anger, you'll see and it'll make sense. Eh and sorry if Bakura and Akei are sorta OOC....don't flame me on it ^^;;; But Bakura ish kinda better the way he is in the next chapter but I do admit he is very off in part of this....was needed for effect on Akei.... (you'll see) Ehh and ever realize how it seems parents don't ask questions? Don't hurt me on that either! It's needed! I mean...oh never mind just read please with a kind heart...  
  
::Notes on paper::   
  
******  
"Well what is it already?!" Akei snapped.  
  
"....You aren't going to like it...."  
  
"I don't like YOU and yet I can handle it, so spit the damn method out already!!"  
  
Yami shrugged. "You have to go within these 'dreams' of Bakura and stop whatever it is causing them."  
  
"What?!"  
  
/You gotta be kidding../  
  
//Only way I know of..//  
  
/Wonder if he will-/  
  
"Fine. I'll do it, but how do you purpose I do it, oh great one?" Akei mocked, Yami grinned at that comment.  
  
/He's really going to do this??/  
  
//Surprisingly. He could very well die from this and- oh wait..//  
  
/What?/  
  
//If he died I don't think it's a problem.//  
  
/Yami!/  
  
//What? Oh fine I'll be good aibou...// Yami face faltered as he saw Yugi glaring at him for trying to get rid of Akei. He sighed and then finally answered the other yami. "Alright, simple and easy, you have to go into your soul room and enter Bakura's. There should be some kind of object in Bakura's soul room that you need to open and it should be labeled 'dreams' got it?"  
  
"Great."  
  
"Do. You. Got. It?"  
  
"Yes oh mighty Pharaoh." Akei smirked evilly and turned to Bakura who was on the couch. He just realized his hikari had slipped unconscious and was now bleeding from his left leg. "Holy-"  
  
"Will you just go?! We'll try and cover Bakura's injuries from out here," Yami said loudly, getting annoyed with how Akei is stalling. Akei grumbled and Yugi and Yami watched as the yami was pulled into the Millennium Ring, and his soul room.  
  
******  
"Dreary dump...now where is that lousy door?!" Akei snapped, staring around his soul room to find the entering door to Bakura's. What? Did you really think he knew where it was? Yeah. Of course he should, he's just never actually been into his other's soul room. But something caught his eye. A rusted door knob. Akei through his hands into the air and walked slowly to the knob, seeing the full small door up close. "Has this always been here....?" He shrugged and attempted pulling it open. "Damn...it's rusted..." A foot lifted and he rammed it at the door, smirking as he heard a crack along the doors rims. Again his hand went to snag around the handle, this time it opened easily.   
  
As the yami entered, his eyes casted a curious glance around the room, being his first time here. It seemed like some kind of store's storage room. Maybe like a shoe store sort of thing. Metal bared shelves in a square shaped room, and it was small too. On all of the shelves were many boxes, all lined up neatly with labels on them. Akei walked into the first row on his left, looking at the labels on small four inch by four inch boxes, the size increasing as he moved along. My Friends, My Family, My Status (like birth place and stuff), My Life. "That's a big box..." He eyed at the size of the "My Life" box but continued moving until one caught his eye. Was he snooping? Yeah, sort of, but he was also looking for the one labeled Dreams at the same time. He picked an twelve by twelve inch box into his hands, reading the label out loud. "My Damn Millennium Ring."  
  
Almost curious, Akei opened the box and saw many pieces of paper filed neatly within it with writing on each, mental notes most likely. Akei grabbed one and stared at it, raising a brow.   
  
::Why did I have to find the power in this thing?! It's cursed I swear! Someday I'll rid of it...or rid myself, whichever will give me less pain in the process. Damn...if my yami ever caught me he'll probably beat me until I'm so close to death, but will keep me alive to I can recover and then suffer again! I hate him. I hate him so damn much...I wish I had the strength to hold up against him-::  
  
He reached the end of that piece of paper and moved onto the next.  
  
::-then I could show him. I'm not pathetic. I don't care what he says anymore, someday, someday he'll see...he'll face his own pain and then be on the brink of death....I swear he will....and then....then I'll sit back and laugh watching him be the weak defenseless one for a change..::  
  
Akei sneered in anger at the thought of Bakura actually writing this about him. He stuffed the note in its box and carelessly dropped it to the ground, letting the hundreds of notes fall from the single box. He kicked the scrap of cardboard into a wall and continued down another row.   
  
'Damn that boy...why do I even bother helping him....'  
  
Another label caught his attention. 'Does this kid have any other thoughts?' He opened the box labeled Yami Bakura and took out the first note. His face faltered.  
  
::I HATE THIS BITCH!! HE THINKS I'M TRASH AND NOTHING ELSE THEN SOMETHING TO KICK AROUND AND BE 'SUPERIOR' TOO!! THAT FREAKING ASS CARES NOTHING ABOUT ANYONE BUT HIMSELF! NOTHING! HE'LL PAY FOR WHAT HE'S DONE IN THE PAST AND THE PRESENT! I'M NOT HIS CRASH BURN KILL TOY, I'M NOT! WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM...OHH HE'LL BE DEAD, A SMEAR ON THE WALL LIKE HE'S TRY TO MAKE ME!::  
  
'Interesting....'  
  
::Ok...I'm calmer now...mental notes are nice....school is nice....I'm safe from him now...for a few hours at least. Purposely I hit Tristan in the stomach to get a detention so I can stay at school longer. Tristan was nice when I asked him and we role-played a scene of me really hitting him. Yami Bakura doesn't suspect it, thank god. Hey, I hit someone right? Maybe I can hit him someday...::  
  
'Yeah right kid...'  
  
::I....can't....move....Why did he do this....why...? Leave me on the ground to bleed to death? Where'd he go anyway...? I know he left my room...and the bed is only a few feet away...CRAP he's back....no....no....why can't I get these mental notes to him? Oh well...I can beg myself...in my mind where I'm safe....... 'Please don't yami...please no!'::  
  
::Next day, I'm ok...in one piece, hardly. My dad called me for the first time in like four months, I have no idea where he is right now but he asked me if I wanted him to send anything home. Two words came from my mouth in normal speech, good thing my yami isn't paying attention. "A knife." My father doesn't question me, just says I'll have one here in three weeks. I can't take anymore of this. Whichever is easier, I'll use it on Yami Bakura. Or if that fails. Then myself.::  
  
'......That phone call happened two weeks ago...that means by the end of this week...the knife will be here....' Akei shook the thought from his head and dropped that box as well, moving away from the row that he just realized all the boxes in it were labeled 'Yami Bakura'. Then a row of just ramblings...a few more hate boxes about himself and then a row...that at the end had a large blackened box, about as big as himself. "There it is..."   
  
Wearily, Akei approached it and reached towards to opened it, but found no way to. "What the heck?" He searched around the box but then found out he would have to pry it open with something.   
  
'Nails? No that's just plain idiotic...but then how...?' His eyes darted around the room before resting on one of the shelves. Just what he needed was there all around him, just a way to puncture a hole in the box was all he needed.   
  
All the metal bared shelves were held together by screws, and using his fingers, Akei unscrewed one, realizing it didn't matter much. Raising it and feeling like an idiot above his head, he pummeled the screw into the cardboard and made a hole before continuously puncturing it.   
  
He threw the screw to the ground and pried his hands at the small holes he made, ripping it open angrily and a bright dark blue light seeped out, covering around his current location.  
  
When his eyes opened, he looked around. New location: Bakura's bedroom. The light was off in it and it seemed to be night outside, the only light was a streak of a moon ray entering a single window. The only window in the room. He winced as his eyes scan more thoroughly, the carpet holding mass amounts of blood, a table and lamp knocked over and the bed untouched. He couldn't quite see anyone, maybe the dream yami had walked off.   
  
A ball shape form distinguished itself from the lurking shadows in the room. Akei quickly recognized it and ran over to the hardly moving figure. "Bakura!" He winced, acting worried for once in his life. Why? Bakura was nearly dead and he wasn't the one to cause it this time. He reached a hand over and rolled Bakura onto his back, staring down at blood covering his entire front side of his body, most of it dried and yet some continued to leak from cuts. "Oh my god..."   
  
'Ok...even I haven't left Bakura like this before, never to the extent that he looked....like this....'  
  
Again Akei shook that train of thought and looked over Bakura again. Gash still bleeding down left arm...right arm broken...left pant leg red from wounds beneath and right still looking normal (though beneath it the leg was a large black and blue). Bakura's face showed pained all over it, eyes closed and Akei checked for a pulse. Very faint and slow, but still there. He shook a hand on the boy's shoulder, still in his sense of worry. "Come on aibou....wake up..." 'Wait a minute! Rewind! What did I just say? What did I call him?! Oh never mind it's not worth a headache to think over..'   
  
Bakura twitched from beneath the hand, crusted eyes half opening. When he saw the form infront of him, the boy did all he could to squirm his way from the hand and into a corner of the room. The only thing that registered in Bakura's mind was the scolding to himself for being stupid.   
  
Akei sighed and stood up full, debating whether to approach Bakura or not. Just as he was about to head towards his hikari, something...or more like someone grabbed the back of his shirt forcefully and threw him into the now closed door. Akei groaned at the unexpected impact, holding the back of his head as he looked up to see the culprit. His eyes went wide, eyes and brain registering a double take. 'It can't be....it just can't....' Akei stood up once again, remaining by the door as he stared at.....himself. But no, no this Yami Bakura looked a lot stronger, more brutal, and ready for someone to destroy like he did to Bakura.   
  
((A/N: Ok, dream yami will be known as Yami Bakura and um real yami will still remain being called Akei, got it? Err...and sorry if Akei gets a little out of character...))  
  
Yami Bakura moved towards Akei, who honestly wasn't quite sure how to deal with someone who would forcefully fight back. But before he could even attack, a swift arm, fist clenched, whiped across his head and a second hand latched firmly around his neck. This other person was much stronger then Akei could EVER be and laughed darkly as Akei did his best to wriggle away with no success. "You're just as weak as that other runt over there." He breathed, not even moving his death glare off Akei.  
  
"You did that to him...?!"  
  
"Why of course. But that's the least of your worries right not, trust me." With the firm hand still clasped around Akei's neck, his free one moved and grabbed his arm, spinning him away from the door and aiming him towards a wooden bed side table. A leg raised up towards Akei's chest, who still fought as much as he could around the arms that held him, gasping for the little air he was receiving through his throat. The leg flowed with power to Yami Bakura's foot and hit in full impact dead into Akei's chest, hands releasing him and he was flung into the bed side table, his sight flickering a moment.  
  
Or maybe longer then that.  
  
When Akei could see again he was still in the same position that he hit in. Leaning against the closed door was the one and only Yami Bakura, arms crossed and menacingly smirking at him. His eyes traveled to Bakura who hadn't been harmed again recently, and then realized he was ok as well. Ok as in an understatement. When he tried moving, his eyes fell towards his chest and went wide. A rope was strung around his arms and chest, tightly cutting into his body and forcing him to not be able to move. At all.  
  
"What? Don't like white ropes? It's all I could find on such short notice, but I think you can handle the color. See, I couldn't have someone trying to escape while I'm in the process of teaching them pain." The voice never changed, it was so much like Akei's, yet extremely sinister. "Oh right! I also found this in the basement." A smirk as he held up a metal pipe.  
  
'I'm going to kill Bakura if I ever get out of this alive for leaving that in the basement...'  
  
The taunting continued. "What? You don't seem very happy, why not? Aren't all people happy when they are going to die?" He paused, as if awaiting an answer. "No? Aw, what a shame. Oh well, that won't stop me."   
  
The laugh of Yami Bakura rang through Akei's ears as he squinted, moving his head towards Bakura's direction. It wasn't a smart move. The pipe stroke forcefully against his cheek, throbbing when it pulled away until again it contacted Akei's skin. The third time, it drew blood for his skin was becoming too raw.  
  
"Put a smile on that face....it's so depressing watching you suffer like this," he mocked, pulling back the pipe like a bat. "Oh well, actually it's quite satisfying."  
  
'I can't believe this is happening...I can not even defend myself....' He winced as a tug on his binding rope pulled him off the ground and too his feet. A strong hand reached out and grasped his chin, forcing Akei to stare at his abuser. But it was only a minute he was standing.   
  
An end of the pipe was jammed into Akei's stomach, having him flop back pitiably to the floor.  
  
******  
"Alright Yami, I got all the blood cleaned up and wounds patched up."  
  
"Great aibou," Yami muttered, sitting himself down in the chair Akei had been in.   
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
"Something is not right......" He murmered, staring at that flat unconscious laying Bakura. "Not right at all."  
  
******  
In passing time, Akei had ended up adding to Bakura's once pale white carpet, now douses of blood from the yami and hikari covered over it. Few patches of the original color existed, only a few.  
  
Akei groaned as again he was pulled off the ground, incapable of even bothering to try and break his bindings, he was dragged towards the only window. By the hair. It was a two story house, only a few bushes, and not below Bakura's window. Leading out the front door was a pavemented walk way that led to the driveway...  
  
Yami Bakura opened the window as wide as possible with one hand, the other still holding Akei by the hair. His hand ripped the screen out and watched it fall with a clunk sound to the ground. He lifted Akei up by the hair, the yami's eyes half open. A laugh erupted from his mouth and into the bitter night air as with full force, two hands lunged Akei from the window to the ground below, watching at the impact when the yami could move no longer.  
  
******  
"Akei! AKEI!! Wake up!!" Yami shouted, shaking the other yami who was laying behind the couch on his side, the ropes gone but his wounds remained, only lessened slightly.  
  
The dark half of Bakura groaned and twitched a moment before opening his eyes and trying to sit up, only to fall back to laying down. His body was sore all over from that final fall, it was a surprise he was still alive. Thankfully the Millennium Ring had activated itself and drew his wrenched body from Bakura's mind and to reality. "Akei...who did this too you?!"  
  
One word... "Myself....."   
  
******  
  
  
Ohhh, cliffy (ok not really)! Poor Akei...now he getting killed....oh well, next chapter will be up as soon as I type it. See, while I was on my lovely two week vacation I ended up writing more to the fic on little 4x6 paper. I ended up with 42 written pages of that and now I have to get in the mood to type it. I'll try!! Abiz for now! 


	4. Author's Note: Please Read

Sorry- Just an author's note. I may take this story down and re-upload it, the site is really messed up.  
  
I never uploaded a third chapter when it said I did, and I finally uploaded that third chapter and now it says I have four! I don't get it, I'll keep trying to jiggle the site to make it work for me, I really don't want to take the story down and lose all of my precious reviews. Thank you to the people who have reviewed, to make this note seem longer, I'll list all of the generous people!  
  
Kinedra  
Kitana  
lilmissgoten  
Snowgren  
Kitsune of Insanity  
L.M.C  
JessIchi  
Kiseki  
  
Sorry if I misspelled anyone's name!   
  
Now to get my story fixed, if anyone has a word of suggestion, please review it or email me at one of these emails:  
  
HPFerret@aol.com  
Yami Reia@aol.com  
  
******  
  
::Grumble.:: It is now 2:25 Pm (Do you know where your children are?) and I started this at 2:15....sigh...I think I found away to fix this, but I will lose all reviews once I remove the chapters and reload then....Man I might as well have taken down the story, but I don't wanna type the summary and such again....  
  
2:28 Pm....I'm an idiot -.-   
  
2:29 Pm.....Stupid me figured if I remove ALL the chapters that the story would remain there, HAHAHAHA funny. Yeah, real funny.  
  
2:32 Pm.......I am now re-uploading the story with chapters and this note, man if I really DID just remove the story in the first place I would have been fine. Why am I so paranoid?  
  
2:38 Pm....YAY, all is well....sadly my reviews are gone though ::Cries.:: I hope I get more...it's so depressing without them....eh sorry I should be labeled 'emotionally challenged' when I'm half hyper and half agitated. Bad combo, trust me, you don't want it. Um ok, this note is just about a page long and even though I solved my problem I am posting it to the site to show that I really did put effort to this problem. ::Quickly changes her error in chapter 3 about using the word 'show' instead of shoe... 


	5. To Continue What Was Started

And it continues....remember, this ain't a yaoi of any kind, just brother to brother confrontations of comfort. (I'm saying this one last time cause I had a moment in part of it where I began doubting that and the ending...eheh...I think I rid that thought now though, finally). And while Yugi and his yami aren't around, Bakura refers to Akei as Yami...   
  
Ehh...and ya know what I just figured out from reading over me story..? I switched around how Bakura and his yami do mental links o.O Doesn't seem like anyone noticed but here is what it is now...  
  
{Bakura to Akei}  
[Akei to Bakura]  
  
Disclaimer: Blah, blah, blah I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh, but I own the rights to Akei and **ahem** Dansei plus the card, Shurgarou the Black Phoenix, scene in next chapter.   
  
******  
"You beat yourself up this much...?" Yami quirked.  
  
Akei was now seated besides his still unconscious hikari. His wounds had been tended to by Yugi and he was already beginning to surprisingly recover. Yugi had found a wooden chair from the kitchen and brought it in the living room to sit, listening carefully to the two yamis and every so often glanced to Bakura.   
  
"No...I myself didn't do it....but...it was weird, the person looked like me and almost sounded like me, but more sinister. And for one thing, how I hate to admit...his power was greatly beyond mine."  
  
Yugi chimed in. "How did you get so ragged...?"  
  
"He threw me out of a window." On that comment Akei couldn't control a snarl. His head shook like normally though and he leaned against the couch's backing, arms folded over his chest as he glanced wearily at Bakura. "He's going to go after Bakura again now that I'm gone..."  
  
Yami spoke up again curiously this time. "You're actually worried...?"  
  
Akei shot standing up and shouted. "Of course I am-not!" He blinked and sat back in his position, realizing the 'not' probably didn't get into Yami's skull. 'Great now I'm going to get ratted on about this for awhile...being worried...hmph...of course I'm not worried about that runt...why would I be? He's a nuisance. A weakling. A-'  
  
The door bell rang and Yami looked to Akei to answer it. He stood and grumbled, walking over to the door and winging it open to face a postal service man who held out a clipboard to him. "Are you Bakura..?"  
  
Akei eyes the package in the man's hand. 'The knife...' "Yes, I am."  
  
"Sign here."  
  
Akei took the clipboard and signed as the man left him with the package. He walked back to the couch and took his seat, staring at the package for a minute or two, not even moving his gaze when Yugi spoke up.  
  
"What is it...?"  
  
"A knife," was all he answered before opening it up, packing peanuts spilling to the floor.  
  
"You ordered a knife...?"  
  
"Bakura did." He held up the weapon in both his hands, a shining ragged silver blade connected to a golden hilt with the Eye of Ra engraved in it, a sphere ruby at the very end of the hilt. "And I think he did something right for once."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Because Yami, I can use this when I go back." He stood at those words, facing towards Bakura and his replica of the ring beginning to glow.  
  
Yami stood and grabbed his arm, almost hissing desperately at the crazed yami. "You can't go! You'll die for sure this time!"  
  
"Well then I won't be missed."  
  
"Akei!" He shouted one last time before Akei was gone, back into Bakura's soul room- directive this time. "Damn! That bastard..."  
  
******  
Once again in Bakura's soul room, Akei went towards the labeled box he needed but paused. It was sealed up all over again, his eyes fell to the ground to see the screw that he had left behind before. His body sulked backwards until he was leaning against one of the shelves, staring along the row at the mess he made. His eyes drifted along to a paper that had been moved away from the rest before and he looked down at it.  
  
::I still don't understand him. Why he thinks I'm nothing and just a nuisance. Or why he beats on me for sometimes no reason at all. But he can't be all death and destruction can he? There has to be something more to him he's afraid to show...maybe even a side of him that he can care for someone else. For once.::  
  
Akei cringed and looked away from the note and then to the ceiling, slamming his eyes closed and yelling loudly through the soul room. "DAMMIT I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT HIM!!" He wasn't sure why he bothered stating a lie, but he didn't want to admit to the truth.  
  
It took him a moment to calm himself back to normal self for him to approach the once again sealed box. His foot kicked at the screw on the ground and sent it sprawling into some unknown corner of the soul room.  
  
Instead he pulled out his lovely new blade from behind his jeans and raised it above his head. It didn't take much force to actually rip through the box, but it was something and once again the blue light engulfed the area.   
  
But this time he was not already in the room. This time he was standing where he had landed earlier, peeking over at the amount of blood marks and looking up at the window. "Great." He walked to the front door and tried to open it and cursed out in his own tongue. "Why does Bakura have to lock the doors....?" Another grumble and he looked for a way to get in. The gutter.  
  
The gutter was right besides Bakura's room window and looked pretty easy to climb at that. Hopefully Bakura wouldn't mind large holes in his 'dream' house. Akei walked over to it and looked up, beginning to climb up the thing of metal with the help of sticking the knife in the house wall to pull himself up.  
  
It was a surprise he ever made it up. His hands clutched onto the window and pulled him into a stand between its frames (it was a very large window). When he looked in, Yami Bakura hadn't noticed him, he was too busy about to kill Bakura with his pocket knife.   
  
Akei had never been so "protective" in his life. Never, for anyone. But of course, he was the only one with rights to beat on Bakura, and this was not him doing it now.   
  
His energy sank to his feet and launched himself into the air and tackled Yami Bakura dead on, pushing him away from Bakura and the pocket knife.   
  
Akei mentally rolled his eyes on what he was about to say, but indeed yelled it at this other person who was pinned to the ground, Akei's knife firmly held by his neck. "Who are you to go and try to kill my aibou?!"  
  
"Heh, heh. I am you and yet I am me."  
  
"Answer or you lose your neck!"   
  
"Protective now, eh?" It mocked.  
  
"Shut up." 'What am I doing? It's right...I am protective...why? I don't get it...whatever...I'll figure it out after I kill this fake.'With no more at thought, Akei forced his knife against Yami Bakura's neck until it cut in. "Welcome your death."  
  
"How about you welcome it?" Akei blinked when the knife did no damage, no blood, no nothing. He stared as he felt the weapon be pulled from his hand by some strange force. His body also met this force and was thrown backwards. Yami Bakura stood and brushed off before laughing darkly, body being incased by darkness.  
  
"What the..."  
  
Yami Bakura's form vanished only to reveal a black robed (and haired) form, eyes blood red and skin gray. A spirit. "I enjoyed borrowing your form, it helped bring fear, but I never expected to actually face you. Do me a favor and stay on the ground while I kill your weaker half." He turned towards Bakura and smirked at the boy on the floor. "Now the real pain begins."  
  
Bakura tried sitting up bet his body wouldn't allow it.  
  
"Leave him alone," Akei groaned, in the process of standing.  
  
"Silence!" The spirit whipped around ti face Akei, raising an arm in the air and creating a sohere in his palm. Before Akei coukd move, the sphere engulfed him, taking all energy he had and sending him sprawling onto his back, cut wounds everywhere. "You're as weak as your hikari! Probably more useless too. Oh well, no worries now." He turned his head from an unconscious Akei back to Bakura.  
  
"Y-Yami...?" Bakura blinked painfully, staring at his true yami as Akei's Millennium Ring replica began to glow and he vanished.  
  
"Gone again. Well, well, back to you my friend."  
  
Bakura whimpered meakly, body beginning to throb and shudder as the spirit began to form a black sphere in his palm.  
  
******  
Akei sat, half conscious on the couch besides the still unwakable Bakura. Yugi had his place in a chair from the kitchen with a first aid kit and Yami across from Akei in his chair. At one time there was a table in the middle. They moved it.  
  
"Yami, is he ok?"  
  
"I'll get back to you on that one aibou..."  
  
"Where am I...?" Akei blinked to full consciousness.   
  
"Oh you're alive..." Yami muttered.  
  
"Gee you sound so thrilled." Akei hissed tiredly back.  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"I got the first aid kit!" Yugi perked up chipperly.  
  
"...." Yami and Akei responded much the same.  
  
******  
"S-stop..." Bakura cried, painfully curling into a ball as he coughed up more blood to the carpet floor. His eyes clenched shut, blocking the tears trying to form.  
  
"Shut up kid," the spirit growled as his leg pummeled into Bakura's chest, making him whimper again.  
  
{Somebody...help....me....} was all he could relay in his mind before cringing in pain as the pocket knife cause deep slits into his shoulder blade.  
  
******  
[BAKURA!] Akei shot upwards, turning and readying to enter the soul room again. That is, until Yami grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him away from Bakura. Akei growled and attempted moving but Yami's other hand grabbed his arm, slightly twisting it.  
  
"God dammit Yami let me go!"  
  
"Um, how about...no."  
  
"What are you going to do to stop me? Kill me, yell? And with Yugi here?"  
  
"Aibou, would you please leave the room." Yami muttered, eyes never moving from their glare on Akei's eyes.  
  
Yugi looked between the two various time and then to Bakura before dating into the kitchen, leaving Yami to business.  
  
After making sure Yugi was gone, Yami threw Akei backwards and sneered. "You bloody bastard, what the hell are you thinking?!"  
  
A hiss and a few words was the answer. "He needs help."  
  
"If you die that doesn't help anyone."  
  
"He's a freaking weakling!"  
  
"If he was weak he would be dead by now!" Yami snapped, leaving Akei trying to gather up his words.  
  
"If I don't help him, he WILL die."  
  
"Why do you care anyway...?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Akei?"  
  
"Dammit Yami, I don't know!"  
  
"Whoa, calm down, just curious..." He paused then shook his head to continue. "Anyway, you aren't going back until we find a true way to stop this thing."  
  
Akei briefly nodded. [Hang in there.]  
  
{Why are you helping me..?}  
  
[Why does everyone keep asking me that...]  
  
{It's not like you.}  
  
[I wasn't looking for an answer.]  
  
{S-sorry....}  
  
[Whatever, I don't know why.]  
  
{..... ..... ............You were right though.....I am weak...} His voice dropped to a mere whisper, in his location on the floor, Yami Bakura had left the room to search the kitchen for a Butcher's knife.  
  
[In Yami's words, "If you were weak, you would be dead."]  
  
Bakura whimpered. {I am dead...h-he's coming back...}  
  
[He was gone...?]  
  
{To get a b-bigger knife...and he h-has one....}  
  
[.......]  
  
{P-please...I don't want to d-die y-yet........N-n-}  
  
Akei cringed painfully as pain cut through the mental link. [Bakura!] There was no answer...  
  
"I have an idea!" Yugi announced as he rushed in the room.   
  
"What is it aibou?"  
  
"Yami, is there anyway we can like transfer bodies? Send the spirit from Bakura's 'dream' and to Akei's?"  
  
Yugi recieved two blinked, one from Yami and the other from Akei. Wasn't quiet the answer he wanted but eventually Yami spoke up.  
  
"If we can some how get to Bakura, he should be able to send a mind surge towards the spirit and chase it into Akei's mind..." He let his gaze shift from his aibou to Akei. "Have you even ever used your mental link?"  
  
"Yes." He returned with a hiss. "Though somehow I doubt someone who is DYING will talk much!"  
  
In a worried tone, Yugi spoke up. "He's dying...?"  
  
"Yes." ((If only itallics would work for me...))  
  
"Akei. You have to go in that dream and quickly tell Bakura to focus his mind to thoughts on a surge of pain on the spirit. His mind WILL comply. But just to warn you, once the spirit enters you mind and sends you into a dream, Bakura will awake and you will fall unconscious like he is now." Yami intructed.   
  
He nodded and turned to Bakura. 'This is insane.'  
  
The Millennium Ring lit up with a shine and Akei vanished to once again, Bakura's soul room.  
  
******  
Akei had not wasted any time to arrive in the dream and was already within the room. His mind was racing much more then normal and he had to focus on his thoughts through the mental link. His body stood shaken in an unnoticable corner, staring at a crippled Bakura and a gauffering spirit.  
  
[Bakura. Listen to me, focus all thoughts you have on any form of pain directed on the spirit's mind. You do this and you can awaken back in the real world.]  
  
{I can't breath anymore...}  
  
[Get a hold of yourself, you can still breath, just do this damn thing and you'll be in Yami and Yugi's care.]  
  
{O-ok...}  
  
Bakura laid still as his eyes close shut. Various thoughts of death and randow things focused towards the spirit in the room. Thoughts of pain and darkness, total shutdown. But it was enough, enough that his mind complyed to the intentions in a wave of inflicting pain, hit within the spirit's mind. This caught it very much off guard and caused only some damage, but it did do what was intended.  
  
It fled. Out away from Bakura, it turned and vanished to form a new dream room....within Akei.  
  
Bakura's eyes flipped open long enough to see his yami fall forward to his knees, horror-struck, and then to the ground. Then he blacked out himself just as Bakura had done.  
  
******  
"Yami, it worked!"   
  
"Let's hope for the best...." He whispered, looking over at Akei who had separated from his hikari and is now collapsed on the couch (after moving him off the floor). Bakura didn't wake up slow, but quickly, and with mixed emotions.  
  
"No!"  
  
"Well good to see you alive..." Yugi started, eying the newly awakened and wide-eyed Bakura.  
  
Now Bakura was beginning to shake uncontrollably, head twisting to his right to see his yami. "W-what's going on...?"  
  
Yami cut in, trying to comfort the boy (ha, yeah right). "You're safe now, don't worry." That didn't help at all, tear were now forming and streaming from his eyes.  
  
"What h-happened to him...? He can't be dead..."  
  
"He's not dead, Bakura. But we have to do something soon of he will be."  
  
"But _what_ happened to him?"  
  
"The spirit left your mind and entered his." Yami simply stated.  
  
"Isn't my yami a spirit?"  
  
"Eh...well, yes, technically Akei is..."  
  
"Akei...?"  
  
"Your yami's new given name," Yugi said with a chuckle, giving in his two cents.  
  
"....Ok.....But how can a spirit be in a spirit's mind....?"  
  
Yami blinked. "It can just....happen."  
  
Bakura buried his head in his hands uneasily. {Please tell me you're alive....Whatever you did worked for me, but if you died...}  
  
No answer.  
  
{God please no! I don't care if you want to beat me like always, it's better then that spirit! Now will you answer me?! You're still my yami and besides, if I could hold out so long, you should withstand for awhile!}  
  
Still the link remained dead.  
  
{YAMI!}  
  
******  
Akei lay unconscious in a new mildly dark room, different then the last. Still square but the only thing in the wooden floored room was a round table and two mahogany chairs. He was sitting against a corner, the spirit nowhere in sight. Though his mind took in what Bakura had been saying, he only truly snapped awake when Bakura resulted to yelling.  
  
[Bakura...?] Was the only drowsily said thing.  
  
{Don't DO that! I thought you were dead, you totally freaked me out! Oh...is the spirit there? Are you ok?}  
  
[He isn't here...damn I can't move my head though...cursed headache...]  
  
Akei could feel Bakura's eyes roll.  
  
{We'll get you out of there...}  
  
[Like you care.]  
  
{What's _that_ supposed to mean...?}  
  
[Don't play stupid Bakura!] He hissed, almost...enraged. He still remembered well about what was read in Bakura's soul room, very well. [Trust ne, I KNOW how your mind revolves around some painful death to me!]  
  
{H-how do you know that.....?}  
  
[Your damn soul room.]  
  
{Y-you raided my thought....?} He was beginning to get weary, but who could blame him? He just found out his yami knew some of the things he had said that were locked in his soul room, never SUPPOSED to be read!  
  
[So?! You should be thrilled as it is! A quicker way for me to die.]  
  
{....}  
  
Akei broke the disscusion, the spirit had returned by simply appearing, arms folded as he chuckled at the yami's weakness. "Well, well, well. The old tomb-raider at his most pathetic stage. There are no doors, no windows as you can see, you can't escape your fate. Once you're gone, your hikari will fall more easily."  
  
"Leave him alone," Akei growled, still unable to move from his corner position.  
  
"Worry about yourself for now. No one will save you, not that Pharaoh or the weakling Bakura. He hates you, actually everyone does! Especially me."  
  
"Who are you!?" Akei demanded, getting beyond ticked now.  
  
"Don't you remember me? We were like best friends.....that is until you let the Pharaoh catch and kill me!!"  
  
"Dansei..." He spat out angrily.  
  
"Ah, see you remember," he mocked, eyes staring like an owl at Akei, though he was only a few feet from him.  
  
"What do you want with Bakura?!"  
  
"Oh pipe that voice down. Why should you care for that boy?! He wants you dead just like I do. Stop bothering time over him, and stop fooling yourself that he cares if you live or not."  
  
Akei slammed his eyes shut with rage and tried standing, but Dansei reacted quicker and drove hit foot into Akei's chest, having him fall forward to his knees.  
  
{Yami...you ok....?}  
  
[Shut up bastard!] As anyone could see, well except for Bakura, Akei was in a very bad mood and starting to believe what Dansei was saying. That is not a good thing.  
  
{W-what did I do...?}  
  
[I SAID SHUT UP!]  
  
{B-but Yami...}  
  
[SHUT THE HELL UP YOU FREAKING PAIN IN THE ASS!]  
  
******  
Bakura cringed leaving Yami and Yugi in a confused state of mind. The silver-haired boy shook his head over and over again, knowing something was off balance. "No, no, no....something isn't right..."  
  
"....Use the ring...." Yami said, spacing in from his own world.  
  
"Eh, Yami?"  
  
"Sorry aibou...I mean, I think I know how you can stop this thing."  
  
Bakura raised his head to meet Yami's game. "How..?"  
  
"Use the ring. Bring the spirit from the dream to the Shadow Realm, that way you can hurt it and hopefully, kill it," Yami explained.  
  
".....Alright....um....how do I, enter the dream.....?"  
  
Yugi chuckled and pointed to the unconscious yami. "You gotta enter his soul room and find some way to enter his dream."  
  
"Eh...sure....whatever...I'm going...."   
  
"Be careful."  
  
"I will Yami, trust me, I will."  
  
His body was gone- directly to Akei's soul room. {I'm coming.}  
  
[I don't need your bloody help!]  
  
{Well I don't really care what you want right now, there is no way I an letting you die!}  
  
[.....]  
  
******  
Bakura wandered through what seemed to be just a pitch black room. "Yugi made this sound easy..." Eyes darted back and forth, hoping to find some source of light.  
  
{Man...where's the light switch....}  
  
Again Bakura couldn't harness a responds....that was NOT a good sign. But a sudden image flashed before his eyes, a rim of a faint light hidden behind something. A door. "Is that...?" His body pulled him towards it, hands gliding along the wood surface for a handle of some sort. "Come on...please be it..." His voice echoed.  
  
After some wasted time, his face brightened, hands clutching a knob. He turned it slowly, beads of sweat tumbling from his forehead and down the nod of his neck. He feared what was ahead, what was on the other side of the door...  
  
His eyes clicked open and closed for a brief second, a nerve in his hands jerking and causing the door to open. The light that was seen before leeked and poured from the door, blinding Bakura for thoughs few seconds...  
  
******  
Akei and Dansei weren't doing too well. Subtle pain was boiling through the yami's bones ever since Dansei had made a chain type whip appear out of thin air. The spirit had been talking each time before he'd strike his weapon at Akie, voice as a lunatic, madman, crazed spirit lerking in the brinks of revenge.  
  
"I thought we could be friends, you know that? I don't think you did!"  
  
A clash hit along his face.  
  
Akei was still down on both knees/shins, hands tied behind his back and hair falling ragged over his face. Bakura watched, unnoticed, from the back of the room, and unable to move at the sight.  
  
"I could go kill that Pharaoh for executing me, but it was YOUR fault I got caught! You ran like a child from the guards, leaving me at the tomb to be caught. Of course you and Mr. Dignity didn't care, didn't help!"  
  
Another thrash and a cut along his face, Bakura could see some of the red liquid dropped to the ground, almost able to hear a splashing sound when it hit the floor.  
  
"IF it was you being dragged off to the palace, I would have helped you! You are such a careless bastard!"  
  
Akei unleashed a soft, spontaneous cry before the whip hit him and instead of being hit, the weapon hit besides him.  
  
"You're getting soft," Dansei snarled. "How _pathetic_." And the belated lashing hit at his sweater where his rib cage was located.  
  
Bakura cringed. This was surreal! Impossible! His yami's strength was writtling down, his energy, his arrogance. He was getting feeble.  
  
"Don't be stupid my old friend. Only once you're dead, Bakura will be an easy target. As I keep and will continue saying, I don't know why you keep protecting someone who hates you. Either way, it doesn't matter, killing you both clears away my revenge, he's suffereing because of you, such a spineless fool like you should at least be able to understand that." For the last time, the chain whip hit along anb already formed cut, the blod rippling before drizzling like rain to the hardwood floor.  
  
Akei shuddered, holding back a scream and took a few minutes to recove until his voiced rapsed out softly and weakly ((I need a new word.)). "Leave....Bakura....a-lone...This is.....bet-ween.....you...and me. Dammit Dansei...he doesn't...deserve this!"  
  
"Such brave words. Oh well, so long old friend." He raised the whip above his head so the chain fell behind him. As it bagan to move upwards, it stopped as some force held it back.  
  
Dansei turned around to see Bakura holding the other end of the chain. "What, you?!"  
  
"Let's not say so long to him just yet," he growled in return.  
  
"What?! No! You can't be here! You're supposed to hate him, not protect him!!" Dansei wailed out in astonishment and utter confusion.  
  
"Now who told you that?"  
  
Akei's head lifted painfully, only enough to see a determined look on Bakura's face.  
  
Bakura looked down at his Millennium Ring and backed away (letting his end of the whip go) into a wall. He tried a few times but couldn't figure how to work the ancient item.  
  
{How does this piece of golden junk work?!} Bakura cried as Dansei began towards him.  
  
.........  
  
{Please Yami! Akei, whatever! I CAN'T work it, you have to take us to the Shadow Realm!}  
  
[.....I..........can't.........] Was the only faint answer Bakura recieved through the mental link.   
  
{YES you can, you can't die here! That Dansei guy is wrong, you AREN'T pathetic and it isn't your fault he wants me dead too and I DON'T hate you!}  
  
[.......]  
  
Bakura's ring began to glow, having be so bright that Dansei had to cover his eyes.  
  
Thei surroundings changed from its white walls to an eerie black and deep blue world....  
  
******  
  
  
WOW! That was a LONG chapter! That's what ya get for me being on vaction ^^ 14 whole pages, 4222 words, well, counting everything before I said how many words...Aren't these two so noble? I like how I have Akei being nice but still being his self...it seems to work great ^^  
  
If you have any questions, confusions, or comments, please review ^^ I'm so happy I have a lot back hehe...Chapter five will be up soon, I have it done but I'm going to wait until later tonight (it's 2:42 Pm now). AND CURSE SPELL CHECKERS! Eh sorry, just mine hates me again and won't work. Heh.. 


	6. The Dark Realm of All Fears

Whoa-hoo! Heh, I edited chp. 5 if anyone cares...Hehe, I love this chapter though, honestly I do ^^ Ehh...kinda sad though...I started typing this chapter before chapter five....See when I was on vacation I started this one too...and I really am in the mood to continue it ^^ heh, well, here ya go!  
  
  
******  
Bakura stood off the ground and looked around him slightly, well he noticed their location and Dansei was nowhere in sight.  
  
Akei was set a yard or so from behind him, in the same position he left the room. Hands tied behind him back and down kneeling on his legs and hair straggled before his blood tainted face ((I love making him look weak, he's so cute that way ^^)).   
  
The hikari of the two had to do a double take of what was going on and then snapped back to reality. In a slow pace, he approached his yami and kneeled besides him, hands fumbling at the rope restraining his hands. Akei paid no heed to fighting the help, though he so much wanted to. He felt himself sigh with relief when his wrists were free of the rope's pressure.  
  
"Oh my god..." Bakura muttered.  
  
******  
"Um...Yami...?"  
  
"What is it aibou?" Yami called as he entered the room from the kitchen.  
  
Yugi pointed at an empty couch, Akei wasn't there anymore. "He's...gone..."  
  
"They made it to the Shadow Realm."  
  
"Eh? You mean they're physically there?"  
  
"What did you think would happen, aibou?" Yami asked, raising a brow and not catching Yugi slightly red on the cheeks. Yugi then shrugged and muttered something that Yami couldn't hear.  
  
"Can we help at all...?"  
  
"No Yugi...we can't I'm afraid..."  
  
******  
"What?!" Akei scowled to Bakura, though he didn't move. He started a moment when he felt Bakura running his fingers over his wrists, the touched pained him.  
  
"You have giant cuts in your wrists..."  
  
"So what?! Let me do dammit!" Again he scowled, pulling himself the best he could from Bakura, getting off the ground slightly. Failed concept. His face changed from anger to agony-struck and he fell to one knee, hearing Bakura talk in an almost scolding voice. He realized his hikari was delivering his pain though...by squeezing the cuts on one of his wrists.  
  
"You KNOW you're in no shape to stand."  
  
"Leave me alone."  
  
Bakura let go and stood up, arms folded and staring down (narrow eyed) at his yami.  
  
"Great, you tell Dansei to leave me be and tell me to leave you alone. Gee. Don't I feel loved." He paused, Akei had growled slightly interrupting him. "Fine, I'll leave you alone, have fun when Dansei finds you." He then stated, well, almost snapped out actually and turned, walking off and only hearing one last faint growl from his dark side. But it was unheard by the time Bakura turned around again and only saw the realm.  
  
******  
"Stupid kid." Akei grumbled. "Amazing, when I meant 'leave me alone' I didn't think he'd take me serious." Wandering was not the number one thing on Akei's to-do list. He wouldn't admit he was searching for Bakura (like he wouldn't admit to protecting him), but again he wouldn't object to it either. "I can't believe I'm looking for him...but it's better then Dansei's torment to me..." Again, he grumbled (what should now be his trademark) at the lost feeling and stopped at a wind blowing up around himself, fading away as quickly as it left.  
  
[Bakura. Where are you?]  
  
{And you would care why?}  
  
[Where. Are. You.]  
  
{Hell if I-}  
  
******  
Bakura stopped mid-thought and turned around to see something stalking towards him through the air. He whispered out when it became clear and at the same time, wearily backed up. "Serpent Night Dragon...." ((Whatever Rex Raptor has..))  
  
The serpent screeched out in an ear-piercing wail and Bakura stummbled backwards, nearly falling over. "I'm going to die...I'm going to die...I'm going to die..." That was all he could say, all he could think, his only true death options were to die by a brutal spirit, or a serpent. Gee that sounds really hard to decide. A serpent was the better choice. He placed his arms at his side and waited for the attack to come as the serpent railed above him. "Oh god I really am about to die by an untamed beast...and in the Shadow Realm...-"  
  
"Shurgarou the Black Phoenix!!" A voice yelled out. Bakura blinked and watched the Serpent Night Dragon's form explode and sizzle into nothing, leaving one figure in it's place, smirking and holding a Duel monsters card between fingers.  
  
"Yami....?"  
  
"The one and only." He said, still smirking when he slid the card in his pocket.  
  
"Why are you here..? I thought you wanted to be left alone."  
  
"I did. But then I thought if Dansei got to first, it wouldn't be a pretty site to see."  
  
"Aww, how sweet. I have a yami that cares if I die, who would have ever thought that the day would-"  
  
"Don't push it."  
  
"Eh...sorry..." Bakura responded stupidly and then went to trying to change the subject. "So you can summon-"  
  
"-Duel Monsters here? Yes. How-"  
  
"-So couldn't I--er we, use the Change of Heart and settle this?"  
  
"Could, but only as a last resort-"  
  
"-But why?"  
  
"Bakura, do NOT provoke me! That card is a large risk to use in the Shadow Realm and that's that! Now shut your bloody mouth and let me ask my question!!"  
  
Bakura's mouth quickly clapped shut and Akei took a deep breath to cool his temper slightly.  
  
"How did you get the ring to work?"  
  
"I don't know."  
  
"Bakura!" Akei growled (thinking he was lying) and raised a fist, beginning to strike without thinking.  
  
Bakura sank to the ground and whimpered, arms up over his head to block the hit as his voice strained shakily from his mouth. "Please! I'm honest! I don't know, it glowed after my speech back in the room, that's all I know!"  
  
"Dammit!" He cursed and lowered his fist to stare annoyed at a now crying Bakura. He rolled his eyes slightly and finally spat. "Get a hold of yourself!"  
  
Bakura quit crying at that very moment and lowered his arms to stare at his yami (who had his arms at his sides). "But....but I thought...."  
  
"Yeah...well."  
  
******  
"Got any six's?"  
  
"Go fish."  
  
Yugi grumbled and picked up a card from the almost empty pile. "Your move, Yami."  
  
"Um...aces.."   
  
"Nope!" Yugi chuckled and watched his dark half pull up a card. Yugi peeked down to no longer see a pile. "Hand over that six Yami." He smirked as Yami handed him the card and Yugi set his cards to the floor and jumped up. "I won!"  
  
Yami grumbled. "Aibou."  
  
"Whoa-hoo! Me Yugi, stomps over Yu-Gi-Oh, the King of Games, YEAH!"  
  
"Aibou."  
  
"What?" Yugi turned his head to see a gleam in Yami's yes. "Uh-oh." Yami lunged up from the chair at Yugi (who tried running) and immediatly went for a weakness of Yugi's. Which that only resulted in tickling the smaller boy. "Yami! Stop! I-I surrender...YAMI! Hahahahaha......s-s-s-top!"  
  
******  
"Where are we...?" Bakura groaned as he sulked behind his yami.  
  
"Um."  
  
"You don't know...?"  
  
"Shut up."  
  
"Sorry."  
  
"Will you stop saying that?!"  
  
"Saying what?" He lifted his head to see Akei tense.  
  
"SORRY!"  
  
"Oh. Sor-um, ok." And they continued walking blindly.  
  
***A half an hour later***  
  
"Where are we?"   
  
"DAMMIT BAKURA!!"  
  
"Eheh....just wondering..."  
  
"Well STOP!"  
  
"Ask nicely." ((See? Kinda ooc huh? Ah well.))  
  
Akei swung an arm around and pulled Bakura off the ground and scowled at him. "Stop it before I rip both your freaking arms from their sockets."  
  
"....T-that works t-too...."  
  
Akei dropped him to the ground and continued walking. "Actually, don't talk period." Bakura nodded and stood, a chill inching up his spine. He stayed mostly behind Akei, every so often looking behind himself, feeling watched. The silence was literally eating away at his insides by the time his hands slid into the jean pockets. A noise whistled past his ears and finally his mind broke the silence do to fear.  
  
{Y-Yami...?}  
  
He growled in responds and flung around, quickly atop Bakura on the ground. His knee rammed painfully into the slightly smaller boy's stomach and hands tightly fit around Bakura's neck. "I told you!"  
  
"B-b-but..." Bakura rasped through his closed off airlock. "Y-Y-Yami...you don't understa-"  
  
"Aww. How nice. My two best friends are trying to kill each other. What a Kodak moment."  
  
Akei snarled and left Bakura on the ground as he stood up to see Dansei a few feet before him.   
  
"Oh will you pipe down? You do realize my magic is strong here, don't you? Oh well, here's an example." He held his arm up (palm looking ready to grab something) and Bakura levitated off the ground towards Dansei, his neck now resting in the spirit's hand. The hand twisted quickly so a soft crack was heard (eh somehow not breaking the neck but seriously hurting) and he dropped Bakura flatly to the ground, leaving the boy laying limply still. "Oops? Was that what you were trying to do? Was it? Don't worry, he isn't dead. Yet." Dansei laughed out and kicked Bakura out of his way and began towards Akei.  
  
"Shurgarou!" Akei called, holding up the card. But before the creature could even emerge, deep blue sparks enveloped the card and bursted into flames. Akei jumped and the ashes that remained hovered to the ground.  
  
"Did you really think that bird could stop me? I hope that wasn't your trump card, should we have funeral for it? I'll dig a hole if you get the flowers-"  
  
"Enough games!"  
  
"Oh fine, as you wish. No more games." His voice went darker then normal, a large smirk forming from the crease of his lips. "Is this serious enough?" This time both his were outstretched, palms with an odd swirl symbol glowering blue. Akei couldn't understand what he was talking about until the symbols became brighter and the same blue sparks he saw before engulfed his own body.  
  
First Reaction: What the hell?!  
Second Reaction: Damn this hurts.  
Third Reaction: I'm going to die.  
  
Bakura finally recovered from his neck injury and looked forward to see his dark side standing, but only because the sparks (which are now going to be considered lightning) were suspending him upward.  
  
{Are you ok?!}  
  
[What do you THINK?! Use a damn card! I can't hold up long!]  
  
{But my deck is in my room, I only have the Change of Heart!}  
  
[Damn, you idiot!]  
  
{Why can't I use it?!}  
  
[It's too dangero-]  
  
{Ugh, I don't care!} Bakura clumsily pulled off the ground and ran backwards the best he could, facing Dansei who began to eye him slightly. "Change of Heart!" The card flickered and formed itself into a wave of light that bursted towards Dansei......but it was deflected by him....and hit Akei instead.  
  
"Well now, thank you for my new pawn," Dansei laughed as the lightning fell from Akei. "Now my pawn, kill that hikari of yours."  
  
"N-no...." Bakura's eyes went wide as Akei stalked towards him with a blank expression. 'This is what he meant....he knew Dansei could deflect the magic of the card...he was trying to protect me again...' Bakura gasped when again his neck was taken a hold of, a fist poised in the air, ready for the strike. "Please Yami...fight it....I'll even let you beat on me again when this is all done....just please....don't listen to him...."  
  
"What are you waiting for?! KILL HIM!!"  
  
"Please....don't do it...."  
  
******  
Yugi lay sprawled on the kitchen floor, never again will he mock Yami for beating him in something. "Yami...do you think they're ok?"  
  
Yami sat perched on a counter, looking down over his lighter half with a worried look. "I wish I knew an answer aibou...I wish I knew...."  
  
******  
Bakura closed his eyes when he figured he had failed. What was left was to wait for his yami to kill him.   
  
One of his hands had found its way in his pocket again, but it was an odd feeling within it, a warm atmosphere. The boy blinked and pulled out a card from his pocket, the same time as Akei let him go (hands falling to his sides). "The Change of Heart..." Bakura read, looking at the card...Akei had fought the card's power....  
  
[I told you it was a risk.]  
  
{I know, I know...I'm sorry....-}  
  
"IMPOSSIBLE!! No one can fight that card's magic! How did you?! I-I don't get it....!"  
  
"Good thing you don't." Akei smirked. [Use the card again.]  
  
{But, but why...? What if something happens again...?}  
  
[Oh stop worrying just-]  
  
"YAMI!" Bakura cried as his body levitated again towards Dansei and once he was set on the ground, the spirit grasped Bakura's arm, holding him still. Bakura struggled but the hand was firmly gripped to him. "Let me go!!"  
  
"Kicking and screaming won't get you anywhere. Besides, I'm going to show you something your thoughts said you wanted." Dansei raised his free hand towards a phased Akei and laughed out as a bolt of blackness stroke into his body, sending him spilling to the ground with an agonizing scream. He lay still. Unmovable.  
  
"What did you do to him?!"  
  
"I gave him what you wanted. To have him killed painfully."  
  
"W-w-hat.....?"  
  
******  
"Where am I...?" Akei groaned, standing up off the ground. He looked infront of him to see a woman in a purple robe.  
  
"You are here to see your fate."  
  
"Who are you....?"  
  
"I am the Magician of Faith." She stopped a moment to stare at him before continuing, her hands clutching her staff. "This realm is between life and death. North is Life, South is Death. West is Heaven and East is Hell."  
  
"So...I go South and then East...?"  
  
"Not...necessarily...You still have a chance to live."  
  
"How..?"  
  
"Just let your thoughts guide you."  
  
"What?" Before he could even do anything about it, a blinding light flashed and he was knocked out once again.  
  
******  
'Great...I've messed up big this time. I'm going to die and I can't do a thing about it. I guess I deserve it...Only the last few hours might differ that. Great, it's my fault Bakura will die too. So in the past I have beaten him so bad, but stopped to make sure he wouldn't actually die. I never tried to kill him, and yet now it's like I am killing him....  
  
Why did Dansei have to show up? This is all his fault! No, no, it's still mine...what do I do? There HAS to be something, someway, I don't know why I still care, maybe it's the fate of a yami. Yami protects Yugi as a guardian...is that what I'm doing now? I have to get out of here...damn....DAMN! Dansei if you kill him I SWEAR I'll find some way to kill you!'  
  
******  
{You can't be dead...I didn't mean it...I don't WANT you to be killed painfully! .............I can't believe it.........I'm sorry it had to be like this....}  
  
"Enough mourning!" Dansei yelled, throwing Bakura infront of him.  
  
"I can't believe you killed him...." Bakura began to growl. (So maybe his yami was rubbing off on him.)  
  
"Believe it! And you're next!"  
  
******  
"The gods have granted your life."  
  
"What? How'd I get back here?"  
  
"You were always here. When you were knocked out, your mind took over with thoughts which decided where you belonged. And you can live. Just remember, this is your only chance, don't screw it up." The magician granted, swaying her staff at Akei until he faded and was gone.  
  
******  
But Bakura had officially had flipped. "FINE! Just kill me already! Cut my head off and use it as a gold ball! My legs as a club! Come on get over with it!"  
  
[You've lost it.]  
  
Bakura fell to one knee, clutching his head angrily. {I have lost it...I'm hearing voices....}  
  
[Bakura I'm not d-]  
  
{LEAVE ME ALONE! I'm tired of spirits trying to be my yami!!}  
  
[Bakura...It's m-]  
  
Bakura began to cry and Dansei just blinked confused at the boy. {Stop it! S-stop it whoever you are! My yami is DEAD so STOP it!! If you're working with Dansei then just leave me alone...I-I don't want to be hurt anymore......S-s-top imitating h-him.........}  
  
Akei still lay on his stomach (though he as alive) and acted dead, the last thing he needed was Dansei to notice he was alive. It almost hurt him though, listening to Bakura trying to stand strong by figuring he was dead and some other spirit trying to kill him...Mentally he shook his head and spoke, still not moving. [Bakura, please, I've been granted a second chance, I'm NOT dead! You have to listen to me, it's me, Akei!] He mentally blinked when he used the name Yugi had given him but then went on. [Bakura, pass the Change of Heart behind you so Dansei won't notice. I have an idea, but I have to know if you trust me on this Bakura...do you, or do you not........?]  
  
******  
  
  
Ohhh cliffy ^^ Ya know, I think I can make a sequel out of this....  
  
Eh. Anyway, I may have tweaked the rules slightly on how to use the Change of Heart. I think when it's used it just automatically has whoever it hits attack the opposing side....But I think it sounded better with Dansei commanding him and calling him a "pawn", ne?   
  
I'll get chapter 6 up as soon as I can... 


	7. Trust

And we continue....Bahahaha....please ignore my lovable use of errors, I hate reading over the chapter until it's on the site (which doesn't help people) if there are a big clump of errors or a few that just ruins the mood, I'll edit em and repost the chapter.  
  
******  
'He wants to know if I trust him...? How the heck do I answer that?! I do, and yet I don't trust him....He's hurt me so bad in the past...but ever since Dansei began invading my dreams, he's been trying to help me...Does that equalize the scale? Could he really be trusted to this extent? Wait...hold it....how can he even be alive?! Eh...I'll get back to that. But still...he went through my soul room, my personal thoughts, that totally violates my privacy! I-I can't believe he did that....my own yami....going through my thoughts....I really don't know if I can trust him after that....  
  
...But....when he did half confess to reading through my soul room...he sounded....hurt. My yami, be hurt, is that even possible? I don't know what to do...' Bakura sank from one knee to both on the ground, and both hands clutching his head as well. He was so confused, nothing was making sense. First it began with the dreams that he thought his yami was killing me in, then he get trapped in those dreams and Akei brutally tries to help him and sacrifices himself so the spirit left Bakura's mind into his. But that didn't stop, Bakura used the ring's power in some ungodly way to take them to the Shadow Realm, Akei dies, he comes back from the dead...and now he expects TRUST?! What was that yami thinking?! 'After all he's done...I can't forgive him....I don't want him dead....but I can't forgive what he's done to me....He came to save me, but didn't actually protect me much, only once with the knife issue. Even then it seemed he was in it for himself..  
  
I protected him. I stopped that whip that could have killed him. I did, and not vise-versa.'  
  
I shake my head then hear a laugh from over me. Warily I look up and see Dansei staring down at me, arms crossed and yet he's holding something in one of his hands. His whip. 'No...he still has it...'  
  
Akei continued laying the way he was, opening one eye to see Dansei looking down right over Bakura. 'He's not going to trust me...I can tell...he would have said something by now...I should have known, what was I thinking when I asked him that?!'   
  
Akei shakes his head but Dansei doesn't seem to notice. The yami almost stoops so low...to beg. [Aibou please...]  
  
{DON'T call me that! You don't want to protect me, do you?! As you said, this is between you and him...This is only about revenge! You don't want me in the way of your sick revenge towards Dansei for him making you look weak!}  
  
***Akei's PoV***  
Is....is that what he thinks? Dammit he's learning to stand up for himself. The only way to make him listen is to be brutal-  
  
A cry of pain rings through me ears, I open one eye again to see the free end of the chain whip laying on the ground, dosed in blood. Bakura's blood.   
  
I can see only partial of Bakura's face, blood and tears dripping down to the floor of the Shadow Realm. This was never supposed to happen.  
  
But something catches my eye, a card. Dansei has his back to Bakura, so in that time I gather the card and stuff it in my pocket. Though Dansei is turned around, I can see the whip beginning to move. I think about the card but immediately dismiss it and stand up weakly.   
  
The whip leaves the ground and Dansei turns as the whip descends towards Bakura's skull. The boy trembles and cries harder, but he blinks when the pain didn't hit him. I clench my eyes shut in pain....I had taken the hit at my shoulder, feeling the location beneath my sweater go raw. Dansei blinked and backs up as I all to a knee for support.  
  
"Y-you're alive...?!"  
  
I say nothing, to him at least. Again I make a desperate attempt to save my light, he HAS to leave here, he can't die in this place. [Bakura, aibou, go now! RUN!]  
  
Bakura stays shaking on the ground.  
  
[God dammit Bakura...get out of here, get a good start away from him while he finishes me off...!] I feel something wet run over my face, blood? No. I blink....tears.   
  
{I-I can't just leave you here...}  
  
[Bakura. Go.] I feel pulled to my feet and stare directly into the eyes of Dansei.  
  
"You know what?! You are the worst bastard in the world! You can't stay down, you can't die, and you can't help anyone!"  
  
"......He helped me...." A voice came weakly. I move my gaze to my left and see Bakura walking up next to me, rubbing blood from his face. I feel his hand reach into my pocket and pull out something. Dansei sure wasn't prepared for this. I hear Bakura mutter out something and I smirk. Sometimes that kid just knows the right thing to do. "Change of Heart."  
  
Dansei's eyes go as wide as they could, his body radiating with a dark indigo. He backed away and dropped me to the ground, Bakura standing over me to make sure I was ok. I never will understand him. Never. The Change of Heart was taking slow to effect though, not that it was a problem.  
  
See, normally the Change of Heart works so what it's used on, will attack the other side. But in this case, Dansei has no one else to attack, leaving the only thing he can kill....is himself. I find it a very helpful plan, very formidable.  
  
The card's magic takes effect and Dansei's eyes turn white. Bakura cringes and kneels besides me, cutting circulation off in my arm. Damn his grip. [You know. My arm is going to fall off if you keep that up.]  
  
{S-sorry...} His grip on my arm lessened.  
  
I watched as Dansei's face features were changing, crippling. I wish I had some popcorn, this was pretty damn entertaining. Again my arm feels the loss of blood and I glance from the spirit to Bakura who tries looking away. [What's wrong...?]  
  
{I-I can't watch...}  
  
[Eh...Right....] What was I supposed to say? It's not like I'm a master at comforting people, not yet anyway. Ok, again to Dansei. Eh....if he was still there at least. Bakura stands and walks infront of me, arms at his side and it seems whatever shaking he had, stopped. "Is he....is he gone...?" He asked, not turning to look at me.  
  
Something clangs on the ground and I snarl, he looks back at me thinking I'm mad at him. Great. Weakly I stand, after dying once I'm still pained by it, let alone that whip didn't help. I walk up next to him and pick up what I saw. The chain whip. "Yeah...he's long gone."  
  
"What _did_ you exactly do to him...?"  
  
"You couldn't catch that?"  
  
He sighed softly and I blinked at what he said. "I want the _real_ truth."  
  
Idiotic kid. Really, he is. But there's a first time for everything and for the first time I sigh a defeat and explain, mostly unwillingly. "It's simply. We both were raiding a tomb, mainly because that bastard followed me. The Pharaoh showed up with a truck full of guards and I ran, easily too, kind of memory because I had been there before. But Dansei should of been dubbed The Village Idiot because he knew nothing and was snagged off my tail easily. Guess all this time in the world of death he got to learn power for revenge."  
  
"I'm sorry..."  
  
"I thought I told you to stop sayi-" He cut me off.  
  
"No!" I pull back at his sudden raise of a voice. Well, this is sure different. "No...I really am sorry for once, I should have trusted you yet I had no real reason to." He had a point there....there really wasn't any reason he should trust me.   
  
I turn from him and mutter a grunt as the ring begins to glow. "Let's go."  
  
***3rd Person again***  
******  
"You guys made it!" Yugi jumped up from his chair, Yami just stood and couldn't repress a smile. "Is the spirit gone? Are you guys ok...?"  
  
"Yes and no." Akei mutters, falling over into the couch to hold his head. The happiness of Yugi's face fell and Bakura sat besides his yami (who was holding his shoulder pained now).  
  
Bakura looked over at him and then back to Yugi looking worried. "Yugi...can you get some ice...?"  
  
Yugi tilted his head then nodded and left the room, soon coming back with a plastic bag, full of crushed ice. He gave it to Bakura who smiled and mutters a thank you before giving the ice to his yami, who sneered down at it. "PUT it on your shoulder or it will swell." Akei looked away at a wall, still not taking the bag.  
  
"Are you two not going to kill each other if we leave?" Yami finally spoke up, the two on the couch glared at him. Yami shrugged. "What? We've been here almost two days now, I want to leave."  
  
Bakura gaped and stood. "T-two days? Only THAT long?!"  
  
"Only...?" Yami muttered at Bakura's surprise. "What do you mean, _only_?"  
  
"With all that torment it felt like a week!"  
  
Bakura sat back down after that to see the ice bag gone where he left it. He had to blink a few times before looking back at his dark half, who seemingly was holding the ice on his shoulder, avoiding eye contact with anyone. "Yeah Yami, you guys can leave." Bakura muttered.  
  
"If you need anything, you know where to call!" Yugi said with a giggle before leaving through the door and waiting for Yami outside by the mailbox.   
  
"DON'T try killing anyone." He directed sharply at Akei who grunted but stayed where he was. "Later." Then with a smile to Bakura, he left after his aibou.  
  
******  
With Yugi and Yami gone, Bakura did his best to look over his yami's wounds but Akei wouldn't allowed to be touched by him. Finally after nearly ten minutes of trying, Bakura gave up and headed towards the stairs, snapping a glare out at his yami (who must really like staring at a chair). "Fine then! Don't let someone help you so you don't die! It's help or be helped a lot of time in the world and since you won't accept anymore...YOU CAN JUST DIE!" He shouted before storming upstairs into his room, leaving Akei in disbelief. He cringed as the sound of a door slamming reached his ears. He just shook his head.   
  
"That kid is getting my temper."  
  
***Akei's PoV***  
What? So I didn't want to be helped, is that so hard to understand? Why the hell did that kid insist on it?! I remember his last words 'YOU CAN JUST DIE!' They hurt more then the bruises I think. Does he really mean that...? I just didn't want any help, or to be touched! The last time he looked over my wounds he ended up putting pressure on my freaking wrists! Oh yeah...My wrists.  
  
I look down at them both, examining them both to see that it looks like I have five tight crimson bracelets on each wrist. Damn. That hurts.  
  
I hear Bakura's door creak open and then come down the stairs and he emerges into the room. Probably coming to apologize for raising his voice to me.  
  
Or not.  
  
His face still has a glare on it and his takes a seat in the chair across me and the table (yes they put it in place again). He pulled his knees into his chest and stared away from me and into the kitchen.   
  
"Why did you come back down here?" I ask in my original tone of voice, trying not to sound curious.   
  
"I'm sleeping down here."  
  
Ok then... "Why?"  
  
"Because I don't want to in my room."  
  
He sounds pissed. Man, I really AM rubbing off on him. Great, just what I need. "Again, why?"  
  
He breaks into tears and folds his arms over his legs so he can bury his head within them, but I can still hear only semi-muffled yells. "Because the memories still hurt thinking about, ok?!"  
  
Never get a hikari that has suffered pain for two days mad.  
  
They act like a yami. Well...minus the bursting into tears part.  
  
"Bakura.."  
  
"Leave. Me. Alone. You don't want help, you won't get it, but don't come crying to me later if it hurts. Because it should, and it will and you will probably get infected. Now don't talk to me, I'm only DOWN here because my room scares me."  
  
"Bakura the last time you tried to help my bruises, I ended up more scathed then before! You put all pressure you could on my wrists!"  
  
I swear I heard him gulp, but that was the most of him talking.  
  
I sigh. This isn't going well.   
  
"How did you live...?"  
  
"What?"  
  
"How. Did. You. Live."  
  
"How did you get the ring to work?"  
  
"I told you I don't know!"  
  
"I don't know how I lived."  
  
"You are SUCH a liar!"  
  
"I know."  
  
Oops. Wrong thing to say I guess. Bakura stood and walked directly infront of me, staring down with narrow eyes. He mouth something I couldn't understand, sounding something like 'I hate you' but whatever. He'll get over it. Again he storms upstairs. Again the door slams shut. Again I'm sitting down here staring at that damn chair.  
  
***An hour an a half later***  
Ok, Bakura can stay mad a really long time. He hasn't come down again and I haven't heard a thing. Curse my conscience.   
  
I stand and walk up the stairs, pausing a moment before opening the door. Bakura sitting on his shins and laying his arms against the ground crying. I ran my eyes over him making sure he wasn't bleeding. Thank Ra he wasn't.   
  
".....Bakura...?" My voice goes into worried mode. Damn. I held up so normal for awhile. It never seems to last. He continues to cry and yet looks over to me, tears running down his face and staining it as well. I enter fully and kneel down besides him. "What's wrong...?"  
  
"T-they hurt...."  
  
"What do?"  
  
"T-the m-memories..."  
  
"Then don't think about them."  
  
"I-I tried, but they just keep coming. They paralyze me, I can't think over them....I come in here and they just strike me down like the weakling I have always been....Yami they just won't go away!" He cried out even harder, looking away from me and staring at the ground. I feel sorry for him. I grab his shoulder and he whimpers thinking I'm about to hit him for crying. Eh...I should. I sigh out loud and push aside my dignity and pull him in a comforting embrace. ((Yes that's all it is.))  
  
I can feel his body jolt in surprise. Probably because it wasn't the burst of added pain he thought it would be. It seemed his crying mostly stopped and I take that moment to stand and leave the room. Leaving him there still.  
  
***Bakura's PoV***  
I don't understand him. I never will. He has more of a multiple personality then I thought. One minute he's throwing me in a wall, the next he's saving my life, and then trying to comfort me.   
  
I shouldn't be mad at him. He didn't want help because he was...afraid, of getting hurt by me like I did in the Shadow Ream. He deserved it then though, now he doesn't. right?  
  
I remain sitting now cross-legged on my floor. The memories still flicker through, but they don't hurt anymore. I thank my yami for that. Or I should, but I still feel like he's going to turn on me. My face is still damp with tears, so I stand and open my door. I'd go check on Yami later I guess....  
  
I walk down the hall slowly and into the bathroom, turning on the faucet and adjusting the water to a perfect luke warm. I dunk both my hands together into the water and cup them to gather a good amount of water that I use to splash my face several times. When I'm satisfied I turn the water of, picking up a wash cloth and rubbing my face dry with it.   
  
Now my next step is to go downstairs, which I do slowly only to walk in the living room and see my yami asleep on the couch. A smile broadens over my face and I walk to sit in the chair across him.  
  
[Sweet dreams, Yami. And thank you.]  
  
******  
  
  
  
Don't worry!! It's not over, I still have ONE more chapter left! And I'm going to try and figure some kind of sequel...somehow...I had an idea but I guess I lost it. Well. I KNOW I lost it. Figures. Did ya like this chapter? I thought it was cute ^^ 


	8. Two Weeks Later

Ok, this is the last chapter. This'll probably be kinda short, and starts out kinda weird...well, kind of humorous too...or not...I donno...eheh.  
  
  
******  
"Change suit to...clubs." Bakura muttered from the chair, placing an 'eight' card on a pile of cards that was set on the table between the two.  
  
Akei grumbled angrily. "Arg you idiot! I had this won!"  
  
Bakura chuckled but stopped when he caught sight of Akei's glare. He pulled a card from a second faced down pile and placed the card on the other. Bakura smiled greatly and placed his last card in his hand down. "I win."  
  
"WHAT?! I'm loosing my touch. That's all. What did you say this damn game was called again?"  
  
"Crazy Eights." Bakura stated, standing from the chair and walking into the kitchen. Akei blinked for a moment before leaning against the couch, hearing the phone ring and then Bakura's voice after Bakura picked it up. "Hey Dad! Yeah I'm great! Uh....the knife? Yeah see...it's great!" After things had settled down a bit in the household, Bakura had found the knife in his soul room and got a rack to hang it over his bed, just in case. "Why did I want one? I....uh...See we had a lot of crows in the backyard, so I wanted to scare them off! Well, no that's not really the reason, but I just wanted something to protect me with at the house when you're gone so much." His father seemed to accept that answer. "You're in Egypt still? Oh right...yeah I understand...Yeah...Yugi's fine too, so is everyone. Ok Dad...see ya." Akei heard the phone click and Bakura sulked into the room and fell into his chair. "Dad's going to be gone the rest of the month, he said they found something important but it's going to take awhile to get out of the ground or whatever..."  
  
"You seem thrilled."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"I was kidding."  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Are you even listening to me?!"  
  
"Yeah..."  
  
"Damn you Bakura!" Akei was on his feet and had Bakura pulled out of his seat quickly. Bakura had chosen now of all time to space back in, just in enough time to whimper as his yami held up his fist. He should have known the time of no pain would never last, he should have known. Not paying attention, Bakura let a thought trail into the mental link. {I should have known this would happen again...I should have known pain would always follow me...}  
  
Akei froze and dropped Bakura into the chair, slowly backing up until he tripped on the table and fell into the couch. Bakura curled into a ball in the chair, head buried in his arms and shaking miserably.  
  
"S-sorry.." Akei murmured, unsure what came over himself. He had tried the best he could to result in hitting Bakura, maybe he was losing it.   
  
***The Next Day*** ((Ehh...that was sudden...oh well...))  
Bakura ran down the stairs, grabbing his jacket off the coat rack and yelling to wherever his yami was in the house. "I'm going to go see Yugi and the gang at the park! I'll be back later! ......You wanna come...?" Akei walked to where Bakura was by the door and shook his head, leaning against a wall and looking at the ground. "H-hey...what's wrong...?"  
  
"I'm leaving."  
  
"Um...ok...when ya going to be back, in time for dinner?"  
  
"No Bakura. I'm _leaving_ for good."  
  
Bakura dropped his jacket to the floor by mistake and backed against the door in shock. "W-why...?"  
  
"I don't belong here."  
  
"What?! Yes you do!"  
  
"No. I don't."  
  
"B-but....you can't-"  
  
"Bakura."  
  
Bakura's eyes held a wall of tears back, but he lost it and yelled out, taking his ring off. "FINE THEN! Go! And take this piece of scrap metal with you!" He shoved the ring into Akei's hands.  
  
"...Why...?"  
  
"I'm not about to have a Millennium Ring, and no yami! It makes this stupid thing pretty darn useless if you ask me! Now GO ALREADY! You wanna leave, fine, I didn't need you or want you around in the first place!"   
  
Akei's eyes went wide and Bakura opened the door an pointed. "JUST GO AWAY!"  
  
'I should have known he doesn't need me around.' Akei grinned and growled at the same time and slid the ring over his head before walking out into the streets.  
  
Bakura sank to his knees and grabbed his jacket, he too left the house and closed the door, walking the opposite direction of Akei.  
  
***Akei's PoV***  
I will leave town, but I first want to see if the runt is going to say anything other then 'good riddance he's gone' to his friends.   
  
Ok, so I'm spying, can I be blamed though?  
  
I watched as he left the house and then turned my direction to follow after him.  
  
I ended up stopping to rest on a bench, still kind of tired from Dansei's lovable torture. So when I got to the park, it was about seventeen minutes after then Bakura. Now where were he and his friends?   
  
The sound of crying reached my ears and I could quickly recognize it. Bakura. I look around to see a group of people huddled around a bench and my silver-haired hikari. Ok, now to snoop on what's going on...   
  
I chuckle slightly and find a nearby tree to listen from so I'm not noticed.  
  
"I can't believe he's gone...I-I really didn't want him to go...."  
  
Yugi's puzzle glowed and Yami emerged besides his aibou. "And you gave him the Millennium Ring...?"  
  
"Y-yeah...I was afraid, Yami. I didn't want the ring if I couldn't talk to him...so I gave it to him but I didn't mean to yell...The last words I yelled were 'Just Go Away.' I didn't mean it! B-but I don't understand why he wanted to go...I though he was happy...I guess not though...." He paused to let his tears flow, I watched as they pattered like a soft rain to the ground. Poor kid.. "I need him...he's my aibou, my yami....it's like how Yugi needs you Yami!" He looked up with reddened eyes at Yami.  
  
Yugi smiled and looked up at his own yami, they both seemed to understand my hikari.  
  
"Eh Bakura, you actually trust 'im?" Joey asked and waited for an answer. Actually. I did too.  
  
"Of course I do!"  
  
That does it. I'm out of here.  
  
******  
And he left his tree, walking off from the group.  
  
******  
After Bakura's friends tried cheering him up, he finally just said he was going home, not any happier then when he left there in the first place. His yami was gone. Left him in the dust to rot a life of a hikari with no dark half. And even worse, he had to be in his house, alone, for the month.   
  
Now he really was happy he had that knife for protection.  
  
Bakura shuffled his keys to unlock the door, but found it was already unlocked and all the lights were off in the house. As he yawned, he flicked his hand over the light switch and the living room brightened up.  
  
He froze at the sight.  
  
"YAMI!" After unfreezing Bakura had latched himself to Akei (who was sitting in 'the chair') and made sure he wasn't going anywhere. "I-I can't believe you're back!" He slowly pulled himself from his yami, who had slid the ring over his hikari.  
  
"Did you really think I would leave you in the dark?"  
  
"......Well...."  
  
"Bakura!" Akei gasped at his aibou's comment.  
  
"Sorry. And I'm sorry I yelled earlier...I was...overwhelmed."  
  
"I understand."  
  
"Just...please don't leave again...promise?"  
  
[I promise, aibou.]  
  
******  
  
  
KAWAII ^^ And kinda lame...and kinda short...and...need I continue? Don't say yes. Just don't. Though short as I said, it deserved it's own chapter. The lame part I can't fix. Oh, and to Cherior: I "insisted" on doing a non yaoi/shonen-ai because it's just not my style, though I don't mind reading them most of the time, I just don like writing em ^^ And my friend would rip my head off the next time I see her, lol.   
  
Eh. Right.   
  
And the sequel which I have an inspiration for with NOT have a spirit it it! I have to get out of my spirit phase. Heh, never mind. I hope you enjoyed it, I'm not sure when I'll start the sequel, probably gonna give a few weeks in time, or not. But here's a brief summary on what it's about: When a dig in Egypt goes terribly wrong, Bakura, Akei, Yugi, and Yami all travel to where the dig was started. But they quickly find out why the city of Cairo was evacuated and become trapped within the city themselves, trying to live a game of hunt or be hunted. But what it is that's hunting them....is smarter then any human....   
  
Abiz all! 


End file.
